I Pledge ......

This is easy, 'cause I never ever shop on Thanksgiving.  And, neither should anyone else, in my humble opinion.

I know that retailers progressed to the point that opening at midnight on the Friday after Thanksgiving wasn't good enough for them, and decided (by some dimwit in marketing or sales or the CEO or COO (funny, sounds like a pigeon)) to open on Thanksgiving to get a head start.  Although it seems so freaking obvious, this means people that normally would have been off, enjoying our thoroughly American holiday, would have to work or possibly lose their job.  If you've never worked retail, then I think it's hard to understand what it's like.  Oh, you might have an idea, but then, no.  It can be a lot of fun ~ I loved my year (part-time) at Williams-Sonoma, especially working with the manager of the store I worked in...the incomparable Mary Ann.  She is a lovely, wonderful person.  Even when she's not giving you a stellar review, she's just so darn nice about it.  Unfortunately for the Uptown Mall in Albuquerque, Mary Ann no longer works there, due to changes in policy that lead her to the conclusion that another job was in order.  Ok, I sort of went on a tangent, on with the story.   Anyway, working retail is tough.  It doesn't pay much.  Usually there are several people who are full time and have access to benefits, most of the employees that help you find things, sell you stuff, and so on are strictly part timers.  This is one of the many ways retailers keep costs down.  It's expensive to operate a store.  Profit margins aren't as high as you might think.  The owners/corporation wants to squeeze out every penny, and believe me when I tell you it's not in the payroll checks of the majority of the employees.  So, asking them to work on a holiday like Thanksgiving, is just plain UN-AMERICAN.   So, stay home people.  Lets send a message that the retailers like Walmart, K-Mart, Target (& all the others) that we don't want to shop on Thanksgiving.  Partly because, well damn, we have all kinds of time to shop.  We don't want to take time away from our families, and we don't want the employees of these inconsiderate bastards to take their employees away from their families either.  

I think that wraps it up!

Love, 365